U.S. Needs to Boost Spending for Energy R&D;, Panel Tells Obama

Photo: Wikipedia, CCHuge Issue With Small ResourcesThe President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology has released a report that is critical of the U.S. for not investing enough into energy R&D;, recommending that spending more than triple from $5 billion to $16 billion (not that much when you compare it to the cost of other big expenditures). The U.S. lags many other country in energy R&D; investments (see the chart below), and considering how much it spends on fossil fuels, any investments that reduce that consumption would more than pay for themselves in the long run.Image: American Energy Innovation Council

The group's report suggests that the money could be found through new revenue sources, like a two-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax or a small "line charge" for the transmission of coal-fired electricity.

"These charges are well within the normal fluctuations in price seen by consumers and yet would provide a research fund that could materially lower future energy prices in a world conditioned by security and environmental concerns," it states. (source)

That might be difficult to do, though, as raising new taxes - even ones that make this much sense - is going to be tough in the current political climate. But people need to understand that there's a big difference between investing in research that has a good chance of having a high payoff (not only to create whole new industries, but also to reduce future energy costs and environmental costs) and raising taxes to pay for useless wars or whatever.